Welcome to all new Seven Hills, SAILors! For those who have just joined us at SAIL, our newsletter is used for all general announcements concerning SAIL Seven Hills and SAIL generally. We would like to extend a huge thank you to all of you for your work and enthusiasm. Thanks to all of you, Seven Hills is growing rapidly and running smoothly.
Congratulations to all!
The 'let us know' list
1. If any of your contact details have changed, please let us know.
2. If you are planning to have contact with your student outside of SAIL hours you must let us know first and complete the contact request form.
3. If you intend to bring a friend to SAIL please direct them to the website first and direct them to apply online or just let us know beforehand.
4. Let us know if you are going to miss a Saturday via the online "Can't Come Sheet".
5. Please check and read your emails each week - if possible, Friday is best!
6. Please let us know before you speak publicly or publish an article about SAIL.
Ongoing offers
1. Photocopying - simply write down your student, the book and pages you want copied in the Photocopy request book - it will be ready and in your student’s folder the following week!
2. The Tutor Resources section of the website is available at all times to provide tutors with ideas, games, work sheets and support. We strongly suggest that if you are experiencing difficulties of any kind when working with your student, you post a request for advice on the SAIL Panel of Experts Bulletin Board.
Diary dates
1. The week 5 tutor talks for the rest of 2008 will occur on the 18th October and 22nd of November.
2. Our final Saturday for 2008 will be on December 13th. For this session we will have a big Christmas celebration including loads of presents, a Christmas concert and lots of yummy treats. We have altered the staring date for 2009 and tutoring will now commence on the 14th of February.
Week 5 Tutor Talks
Tutor Talks will be continuing on the 18th of October. These talks are provided for tutors and cover a whole range of SAIL related topics. They are held at the Seven Hills Community Centre and start immediately after lunch (1pm), running for approximately 45 minutes. If you have any particular topics that you would like to see covered, or perhaps even contacts for guest speakers, feel free to drop us a line at SAILSevenhills@africanoz.com.
Previous talks have been conducted by ESL expert Lyndall Thurley and SAIL overseeing coordinators from Melbourne Nik Tan and Cara Morrissy.
SAIL Xtend
So far in 2008 SAIL Xtend has been a huge success, with Manjula and Kate’s painting workshop, craft, face painting and Jordana and Leanne’s dance. Our next Xtend Workshop, starting October 25th, is guitar skills, headed up by one of our Senior tutors Liz and her husband. If you would like to stay after lunch and help out, please do - we would for love you to join us!
Alternatively, if you would like to volunteer to run an Xtend workshop or you know of someone who would like to do so, please let us know. The kids just love Xtend!
Call for SAIL Star contributions!
Thanks again to all students who contributed to the last edition of the SAIL star newspaper!
The SAIL Star is a student newsletter aimed to encourage the students to produce written and visual work about themselves and their lives. It will be published in an irregular mock-newspaper format that will be distributed at SAIL. Look out for the submission box, and hang on to any work that your student/s produce that can go into it – stories, reviews, drawings, jokes, whatever! We will publish it as soon as there is space. This can be a great way to motivate your students and give them a big boost in confidence!
SAIL Penpals
A couple of years ago SAIL Penpals began as a way to open up communication between students across all SAIL campuses. Due to popular demand, it has continued! If your student is not yet involved, and you think they would enjoy it, let us know. As it has become very popular and word has spread, there are a number of SAILors who are waiting to find their very own penpal. Chat with Sophie or Ian about your student’s involvement.
Setting up at SAIL
There have been many tutors arriving at the centre early on Saturdays, which is fantastic. This gives you the opportunity to visit the library when it is a little quieter and flip through the worksheet folders in preparation for your lesson. Also, if you are a little early you could help us set up the hall. This involves lining up tables and chairs and moving kindy toys from the library to the Junior Room. Please don’t be shy with helping us out - any extra hands in the morning are truly appreciated!
Setting SAIL at 11am
We would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has been consistently setting SAIL at 11am each Saturday. We encourage everyone to be ready at least 10 minutes prior to tutoring so that the kids and adults get their full one and a half hours of learning. This, after all, is what SAIL is all about!
Packing up at SAIL
A special thank-you to all the SAILors who have been staying behind and helping with the clean up at the end of each session. It makes a huge difference to us and is greatly appreciated!
Kitchen Rules
Our SAIL microwave has become quite a popular feature for the students. Please use it if you wish to heat up your lunch but keep in mind that it can get a bit crowded and crazy in our small kitchen if too many people are there at once, especially the kids, so please make sure you use it one at a time and don’t crowd the kitchen too much.
Rubbish rules
During lunch some of the children become a little excited. There are a few general rules that we would like all tutors to put into effect. These include no running in the hall, no eating in the hall and no littering. These are pretty common sense rules and if you see anyone not following these rules please remind them.
We are trying to be as environmentally friendly as possible at Seven Hills SAIL, and would love to get the plastic cups from lunch back to reuse or recycle, so if you could help put them on the tables or bring them to the kitchen after you’ve used them, that would be brilliant.
WholeSAIL News
SAIL 7th Birthday Celebrations
On Saturday, 23 August more than 600 SAILors from all six Melbourne campuses came together to celebrate Seven Years of SAIL. The party took place at Maribyrnong College and featured performers from SAIL Dandenong, Footscray and Braybrook, as well as a short film on SAIL News. A presentation was also made to SAIL’s founder and past overseeing coordinator, Matthew Albert. Finally, a delicious chocolate birthday cake in the shape of the number seven kicked off the Birthday Lunch, an assortment of healthy salad rolls, delicious pies and cakes of all shapes and sizes. Thank you to you all for joining in the celebrations.
SAIL Tutor Survey
In recent weeks, the yearly SAIL tutor survey will have made its way into your inbox. Thank you to those who have already responded with their valuable thoughts, ideas, feedback on all things SAIL. We ask that you take the time to complete it to ensure the good ship SAIL stays on the right course.
Melbourne SAIL Tutor Drinks A Raging Success
The revived annual SAIL Tutor Drinks were held on Saturday 11 October at Panama Lounge, Smith Street. We were thrilled to have so many volunteers attend and kick back to compare notes on SAIL. We estimated having around 70 tutors from all six Melbourne campuses! Thank you to all those who attended.
Melbourne SAIL Summit
The SAIL Summit was held at SAIL Braybrook on Saturday 4 October 2008. The Summit brought together the campus coordinator and two student delegates from each campus. The Summit aimed to provide a space to discuss aspects of the SAIL Program which are working well and should remain, and aspects which need changing and ways to bring about that change.
The day was a great success, with excellent discussion of all aspects of SAIL. If you are interested in finding out a little more, please ask coordinators on Saturday or drop Nik and Cara a line at sail@africanoz.com. We are grateful to all SAILors who represented their campuses and gave up their Saturday afternoon in the interests of the Sudanese community.
SSUDA
Dear Friends
I am so grateful to see so many Australian Communities be part of our effort to rebuild the lives of our Southern Sudanese children and their families who for many years have been living in pain and hardship, resulting from war and the collapse of economic and social infrastructure in Southern Sudan.
This is our final fundraising appeal for our first school in Southern Sudan, the Yomding Education Centre, and we need your help now more than ever to raise enough funds to complete the works.
Many Southern Sudanese refugees are currently returning to Southern Sudan from Northern Sudan and neighboring countries to find that there is absolutely nothing left not even school or basic health facilities in the region.
On the night we will have SSUDA 2009 Calendars for sale. Its only $20 dollars. If you would like to order calendars please email us at admin@ssuda.org.au.
Once again thank you for your support.
Sincerely
Gatwech Kulang
Chief Executive Officer
Ambassador for Peace
South Sudan Development Agency (SSUDA) International Inc. - Working for
peace and development
Ph: 03 9654 8314
Mob: 0421 982 037
Fax: 03 9654 8325
Email: gatwechkulang@ssuda.org.au
Web: http://www.ssuda.org.au
Total Trivia
SAIL Seven Hills opened on May 12th, 2007, making us 1 and a half years old on Nov 12th, 2008. Time certainly flies when you’re having fun!
Did you know? The Sudanese flag is a red, white and black tricolour with a green triangle next to the hoist. Red represents the struggle of martyrs who gave their lives for their country, white stands for peace, optimism and love, black symbolises Sudan and the Mahdiya revolution, while green is for Islam, prosperity and agriculture.
Thank you all for the time and energy you donate each week. We are thrilled with the rapid progress of SAIL Seven Hills in 2008 and we look forward to the rest of the year.
Ian, Sophie, Cara and Nik.
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